Graphene facts for kids
Graphene is one of the forms of carbon. Like diamonds and graphite, the forms (or 'allotropes') of carbon have different crystal structures, and this gives them different properties. Graphene is the basic 2D (two dimensional) form of a number of 3D allotropes, such as graphite, charcoal, fullerene and carbon nanotubes.
The term graphene was coined as a combination of graphite and the suffix '-ene' by Hanns-Peter Boehm, who described single-layer carbon foils in 1962. Graphene is like a honeycomb or 'chicken wire' structure, made of carbon atoms and their bonds. Graphite is many graphene sheets stacked together.
Three million graphene sheets stacked to form graphite would be only one millimetre thick.
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 was awarded to Sir Andre Geim and Sir Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".
Graphene supercapacitors are among the possible applications.
Graphene oxide
An international team from the University of Manchester made a membrane of graphene oxide. They showed it blocked many gases and liquids but let water through. Sir Andre Geim said: "Helium gas is hard to stop. It slowly leaks even through a millimetre-thick window glass but our ultra-thin films completely block it. At the same time, water evaporates through them unimpeded. Materials cannot behave any stranger".
Latest idea
Membranes of graphene will make pretty good bullet-stoppers. Research shows that an atom-thick layer absorbs a hit better than steel. The research team suggests that combining graphene with one or more additional materials to form a composite might be the way forward.
Graphene patents
The invention of graphene has led to many patents for its practical application. In 2013 the score was:
- Chinese entities: 2,204
- US entities: 1,754
- South Korean entities: 1,160
- United Kingdom entities: 54
South Korean electronics giant Samsung stands out as the company with most graphene patents to its name.
Images for kids
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A lump of graphite, a graphene transistor, and a tape dispenser. Donated to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2010.
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Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the Nobel Laureate press conference, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2010.
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Scanning probe microscopy image of graphene
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GNR Electronic band structure of grahene strips of various widths in the armchair orientation. Tight-binding calculations show that they are semiconducting or metallic depending on width (chirality).
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Boehm titration results for various chemical reactions of single-layer graphene oxide, which reveal reactivity of the carboxylic groups and the resultant stability of the SLGO sheets after treatment.
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Large-area Raman mapping of CVD graphene on deposited Cu thin film on 150 mm SiO2/Si wafers reveals >95% monolayer continuity and an average value of ∼2.62 for I2D/IG. The scale bar is 200 μm.
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(a) The typical structure of a touch sensor in a touch panel. (Image courtesy of Synaptics, Incorporated.) (b) An actual example of 2D Carbon Graphene Material Co.,Ltd's graphene transparent conductor-based touchscreen that is employed in (c) a commercial smartphone.
